Devil and the Deep (1932) User Reviews (23)

It starts out very slow...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 6 September 2021]

... and in fact only the last thirty minutes or so has much suspense or tension.

Commander Charles Sturm (Charles Laughton) of the U. S. Navy is well liked by his men and their wives. However, his own wife Diana (Tallulah Bankhead) is not well liked. She appears snooty and glum. In fact she is just a very sad person because her husband is insanely jealous without cause and even violent sometimes. In fact he has been to a doctor and is just plain insane and delusional, and this has killed what love she had for him. He even has a fellow officer, Lt. Jaekel (Cary Grant) transferred for inefficiency just because he is so sure Jaekel and his wife are involved. His wife even has an impromptu conversation with Jaekel with her husband listening nearby to prove it's not true but he remains unconvinced.

So Diana takes a walk through the North African town in which they are stationed, meets a stranger, and gets romantically involved with that stranger. What she doesn't know is that the man is her husband's new second in command to replace the one he transferred, Lt. Sempter (Gary Cooper). So Sturm's old jealousies begin to rise up again, except for once he is right. And a submarine is a terrible place in which to play out a love triangle. Complications ensue.

This is noteworthy for the once-in-a-lifetime cast. Laughton gets an "introducing" credit as being that "noted British character actor". Laughton goes big and florid with his performance, Cooper gives his normal "aw shucks" performance, and Bankhead plays it quiet and sullen. Bankhead is best when she's the one handing out the withering one-liners, so the film may have worked better with a more conventional and vulnerable leading lady.

Great Performances In An Incoherent Story

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 26 November 2010]

Devil And The Deep finds Tallulah Bankhead cast with two Hollywood icons, Gary Cooper and the up and coming Cary Grant as the wife of a submarine commander who has a fling with both guys. But the one who really steals the film in what was his American film debut with Paramount is Charles Laughton.

Although The Old Dark House was made first, Paramount held up its release for Devil And The Deep, the better to give Laughton exposure with a proved box office champion in Gary Cooper. Laughton is stunning as an insanely jealous husband.

I think a lot of Devil And The Deep may have been left on the cutting room floor. In the beginning it's made quite clear that Tallulah is a woman of easy virtue. But later on the tone of the film abruptly shifts so that your sympathies shift from Laughton to her. The story loses a lot of coherency with that.

Still the performances are great and the climax on board the submarine is very well staged. Definitely a must for a fan of any of the stars in the quartet.

A devillish affair

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 16 July 2020]

'Devil and the Deep's' biggest draw was the cast. The most interesting being Charles Laughton in his first American film. Have also liked Tallulah Bankhead in other films, one of her best being 'Lifeboat', and Gary Cooper gave a lot of great performances later on when his acting style had fully developed ('High Noon', 'The Westerner' etc). So did Cary Grant. Did like the premise, which did have potential to be quite tense and intriguing and also the creepy-sounding title.

It is a shame that 'Devil and the Deep' isn't better known. For all its faults, and it has them, it is a nice, interesting film that sees most of the cast on great form (the cast are not just the main interest point of 'Devil and the Deep' but also the primary reason as to why the film just about works) and does a lot right. Not everything works and the film could have done more with its subject, though it doesn't waste it, but the flaws are outweighed by the good things.

A lot works. The best asset is the cast. Bankhead is intensely riveting in her role without going too over the top. Laughton is genuinely menacing and looked as though he was enjoying himself, the chemistry between him and Bankhead has the right amount of intensity needed. Grant is in a very early role and acquits himself very well and is charming and suave, something that he specialised in throughout his career and refined not long after this. It is nicely directed by Marion Gering (an unfamiliar director to me), especially towards the end and in the interactions between Bankhead and Laughton.

Production values are generally not too elaborate while never looking cheap, the atmospheric and suitably claustrophobic photography and eerie lighting coming off best. The music is suitably haunting without being intrusive while not having much that is distinguished. The script is patchy and undernourished at times but generally is intriguing and to me it didn't get too over-heated. The story is tautly paced relatively and carried by its atmosphere, the tense climax stands out.

Sadly, Cooper really isn't at his best. Actually thought that he was very weak and wooden and he certainly went on to much better things. To be fair though, he had a very shallow and dull character and awfully clunky dialogue (this was where the script was patchy) to work with.

It was a little bland at the start and the film changes gear very abruptly and the second half generally felt incomplete, hence some choppiness.

Bottom line, pretty good and deserving to be better known. 7/10

And Starring Tallulah Bankhead

[drednm · 13 July 2005]

Bankhead made a handful of silent films before she became the rage of the London stage in the late 20s. Back in Hollywood, she made 7 films in 1931 and 1932. The Devil and the Deep was the penultimate one. She was not a success. It would be more than a decade before she would "face the cameras" again in 1944's brilliant Lifeboat for Alfred HItchcock.

The few of these early talkies I've seen have been fascinating because Bankhead was a STAR, and no one was quite like her. She had the allure of Garbo or Dietrich, but she was closer to Davis or Crawford or Constance Bennett in her temperament. In Faithless, Tarnished Lady, The Cheat, and Devil and the Deep she plays basically the same character: the woman who goes wrong but is saved in the end. Bankhead suffered in her 30s films from lousy directors. In Devil and the Deep, Marion Gering mis-directs by letting Charles Laughton ham it up as the husband, while Gary Cooper as the lover is boring. Bankhead holds center stage and is really very good in this VERY strange film.

It's a submarine movie set apparently in Algiers or some such place. She is the commander's bored wife. He's nuts. After her fling with Cary Grant (yes it's quite the cast), Laughton has him transferred. Cooper's fate is worse since they're all aboard the sub when all hell breaks loose.

Bankhead looks great in stylish clothing and slinks about the house and the club , the streets (amid whirling dervishes), and on the sub. Laughton is menacing and his final scene is memorable. But they're not a very believable couple. Cooper is oddly boring and is given awful lines to say. Grant, in a small part, is, well, Cary Grant. Paul Porcasi is the shop keeper, Henry Kolker and Juliette Compton are the catty club denizens. One problem is that the film is underlit so it's hard to see a lot of detail. Amusing scenes with Cooper and Bankhead staring up at the stars, buying cheap perfume, and buying a pool cue.

With a better director and better writers, this could have been a blockbuster. But it's neat to see Bankhead in her prime, before she became a campy professional star.

How is this movie not more well known?

[JasparLamarCrabb · 6/10 · 20 June 2014]

Insanity from 1932. A psychotic submarine commander (Charles Laughton) is married to Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead has a bad reputation, her name is Diana and the other wives talk about her at the officer's club. Laughton thinks Bankhead is having an affair with his first lieutenant (Cary Grant). She's not but Laughton has him transferred anyway. Grant's replacement is Gary Cooper and Bankhead DOES have an affair with HIM. They all end up on a runaway submarine that Laughton crashes. They then have to escape through a hatch and swim to the surface. Bankhead does this wearing a black evening gown. And… it all takes place in North Africa! An audacious film that is never camp despite the absurdest plot and a very outré cast. Laughton's performance reaches hysterical heights and he's fun to watch. Bankhead more than holds her own with him --- she's also quite striking. Directed by Marion Gering, who directed LADIES OF THE BIG HOUSE the prior year.

Fabulous acting, crazy plot, super fun!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 7/10 · 21 August 2023]

God bless you early thirties Hollywood for making such crazy, over the top films. This is a brilliant and wonderfully melodramatic example of Hollywood on steroids.

On paper the plot must have looked the most ridiculous story ever but on film it works; it seems so utterly believable. Why - because it's acted so perfectly. It's perhaps not the most naturalistic style of acting but it's hypnotically gripping.

In his first staring film role, Charles Laughton is magnificently over-the-top as the crazed proto-Bligh submarine commander. He acts with such intensity that he almost burns a hole into your screen. As outrageous as he is, he still comes across as an absolutely real person. With his character being treated by a 'brain doctor' one does however wonder whether the navy's personnel screening procedures were a little slack back in 1932.

Whereas Charles Laughton performance is like Led Zeppelin with the amp at eleven, Tallulah Bankhead's has the sensitivity and intensity of a Pink Floyd epic. In a different way to Laughton, she's just as intense and complements her co-star perfectly. She is so good that you feel like applauding. Not just for the early thirties but her outstanding acting in this nutty picture is amongst the best of I've ever seen. An amazing actress and an amazing woman. I love her reply in an interview when she was asked why she agreed to appear in this picture: For the opportunity to 'bleep' Gary Cooper. What a girl!

Glorious cast (Tallulah's best) raises this above mere "programmer" status

[eschetic-2 · 6/10 · 29 July 2009]

Mild disappointment with a recent TCM screening of the less than Lubitsch worthy 20th Century Fox, Otto Preminger directed Lubitsch produced outing Tallulah Bankhead made in A ROYAL SCANDAL after her best known and possibly best film, Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT, sent me in search of the seven Tallulah Bankhead films made in the 1930's for Paramount. Of the five found still circulating, all proved fun and three or four of them particularly noteworthy.

While the two George Abbott (!) directed pieces (MY SIN and THE CHEAT issued respectively 3 Oct. and 28 November 1931 and *both* filmed, apparently, at New York's Astoria Studios) struck me as pretty standard - if very well directed - period melodramas from a 2009 perspective, and the George Cukor TARNISHED LADY from May 2 of that year little more, a jealousy & submarine thriller called DEVIL AND THE DEEP (adapted from a little known novel, "Sirenes et Tritons") which the lady did with Gary Cooper, Cary Grant (!!) and (according to the screen credits on a separate card all his own) "introducing CHARLES LAUGHTON The eminent English character actor in the role of THE COMMANDER" (!!!) was a corker.

Directed by Marion Gering, lesser known today despite 15 films in the 30's - the studio had him as Sylvia Sidney's chief director, the film has all the pace and variety one could wish. Gering was still directing in film a decade before his death in 1977, but like George Abbott ('though on a far smaller scale) he may be best known as a producer and director on Broadway. Because of Ms. Bankhead, DEVIL AND THE DEEP may be his best known film today. It's certainly enormous fun.

Scenery (the film is sumptuously, if illogically, set at a "North African Submarine Base" - there were so MANY of those in the 1930's - so Paramount could get more use out of sets built for other films) is chewed by "eminent English character actors," wives are driven to adultery by maniacally jealous husbands, submarines sail and sink with them still aboard, mutinies lead to heroic rescues and a good time is had by all - except, perhaps, maniacally jealous husbands - although even HE'S laughing (maniacally) the last time we see him.

Charles Lang's expert cinematography is a master class in how to get major effect from minor effort, but DEVIL AND THE DEEP is most worth seeking out for Bankhead shining, simmering, sulking, seducing, sinking and swimming (all in ravishing Travis Banton gowns). Highly worth seeing out, even if less than high art.

Tallulah's even singing - better than one might expect and apparently un-dubbed. Nothing much in DEVIL AND THE DEEP, but in the Panama section of Abbott's MY SIN - she's first seen singing "Crazy Song" - and in the similarly sea-side set Abbott film of THE CHEAT briefly offers "I'll See You In My Dreams" and a lesser known song ["I Love You, Amour"?] in George Cukor's TARNISHED LADY.

The things films packed in in the 1930's!

Tallulah lives in a yellow submarine......

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 25 August 2018]

O.K., so it may not be yellow, but in commander husband Charles Laughton's case, it is green, the color of jealousy, and in his case, psychotically violent and deadly for everybody including his crew and himself. Laughton has just gotten rid of Tallulah's most recent conquest (Cary Grant) by stripping him of his honors and sending him off on another assignment when along comes strappingly handsome Gary Cooper whom Tallulah meets on the street after a near fatal argument with her viperous husband. Tallulah does confess that at one point, she did love here husband, but his Captain Bligh like demands and extreme possessiveness have driven her into the arms of other men, making her the scourge of other navy officer's wives. Immediately suspicious of Cooper, Laughton makes the hasty decision to trap them all on his submarine down in the depths of the ocean where even his most loyal of men might perish thanks to his psychotic rage.

In his first American film, Laughton got special billing, with Tallulah, Cooper and Grant billed in the opening credits among the title and Laughton getting a special introduction after the full cast roll has passed by. Honored with the title of "the esteemed British stage actor", Laughton is not only the commander of his submarine but this film as well. He can go from being a gracious host and strong but caring commander to rantingly mad with little provocation, and when he does, you know that in 1932 they realized what a great actor had just been introduced to Hollywood and American audiences. Tallulah is great as well, and the thought of her being stuck on a submarine with dozens of lonely men aboard brings on all sorts of images. It is unfortunate that Cooper and Grant never share as much as a brief exchange considering their legendary status as leading men. The issue is the script which tries to make us believe that Tallulah's character knows the names of some of the obscure equipment on the submarine and can identify what happened when the ship is stranded at the bottom of the ocean with little chance for everyone to escape. Laughton's final scene is haunting, and the outcome of what happens with Cooper in his court martial trial quite believable.

Tallulah Bankhead takes charge in intense melodrama

[rfkeser · 8/10 · 20 August 2000]

Paramount, at the height of its sophistication in the early 30's, could recycle its sets from MOROCCO and fashion a stylish production out of a passable triangle melodrama. Unfulfilled wife Tallulah Bankhead --frustrated at home, humiliated in front of her social set by her pathologically jealous husband -- stumbles into an Arab marketplace crowded with whirling dervishes, and into the arms of Gary Cooper for a romantic liaison under the desert stars. Conflicts ensue, of course, and then all three find themselves on a crippled submarine.

Viewers who know Tallulah Bankhead only from her caricatured role in LIFEBOAT will be startled by her intensity and bruised glamour: slouching in Travis Banton gowns, she looks sometimes like Garbo, sometimes like "Margo Channing". Meanwhile, she gives a crash course in how to hold a melodrama together, commanding every scene, inflecting every line with subtle nuances. When she must deal with menacing Charles Laughton, the air between them vibrates with tension. Laughton [billed as "the eminent English character actor"] does his share as well, but he seems mannered in a familiar way, a dry run for his Captain Bligh.

Only the radiant young Cary Grant in a dazzling naval uniform steals attention from the leading lady in a brief appearance. Gary Cooper, though persuasive as the romantic hero, soon gets submerged in a disappointingly shallow character.

The eye is seduced by cameraman Charles Lang's repertoire of shadows, the heart is stirred by a star performance, but in the end the head may resist: the terse dialogue tries for Hemingway but remains stubbornly pedestrian and remarkably humorless: the script owes its sole laugh to Bankhead's line reading while buying a billiard cue. The devil is in the dialogue!

Interesting Early-Sound Pre-Code Melodrama While 3rd Act Action Explodes

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 2 March 2023]

Starring Tallulah Bankhead and Gary Cooper...with Cary Grant.

And Introducing "That Eminent English Character Actor Charles Laughton"...As the Commander.

An Artifact of Early-Sound Hollywood. Featuring Early Work from Actors who would Become Legendary Icons of Cinema.

Cary Grant, in His 2nd Film, is the 1st to be a Victim of the Sultry Bankhead's Husband (Charles Laughton), who Suspects Tomfoolery and has the Handsome Grant Transferred for "Incompetence". He is Never Seen Again.

Enter Gary 'Coop" Cooper", Another Officer who Falls Under the Spell of Bankhead's Charm, and Laughton, Once-Again Smells a "Rat".

Charles Laughton is Superb in the Slow-Burning Insanity Role, Tallulha Bankhead is Creamy in Tight, Flowing, Sparkling Gowns, and Gary Cooper is a bit Stiff, but Tall, Handsome, and Verile.

Especially Next to the Chubby, Dumpy, Laughton who says to Cooper...

"It must be nice to look like you and have the women love you...I have never had that." As he pushes his face around like a pile of dough.

The 3rd Act is where the "Devil" Emerges in the form of Laughton's Commander, and Saying Anymore would be Saying Too Much.

But Suffice to Say that it Blows Act 1 and Act 2 Out of the Water.

Getting there may feel Uneven, Stodgy, Slow, and the Dialog Choppy, Stilted, and Annoying.

But that was the Standard Style in these Things as Hollywood was Finding its Ballast Between the "Silents" and the New "Talkies".

Taken at Face Value and as a Time-Capsule, this one Has a Lot to Offer Cinema-Buffs and even for Casual Movie-Goers, it's...

Worth a Watch.

Unlikable heroine

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 17 April 2018]

Here's the problem with Devil and the Deep: Tallulah Bankhead's character. She's so incredibly stupid and weak-willed, there's no way anyone in the audience can root for her! Tallulah is married to Commander Charles Laughton, and while he's jovial and entertaining to others, at home he's a different animal entirely. He's jealous to the point of paranoia, and at the start of the movie he fires Cary Grant because he believes he's slept with his wife. Tallulah is very upset because she's shared nothing but friendship with Cary. After a fight with Charles, she flees from the house. Now, if you had an extremely jealous husband and you'd just seen him ruin a man's career over a nonexistent affair, wouldn't you immediately run to town and sleep with the first man you ran into? Obviously that's the smart thing to do!

The other major problem with the movie is Gary Cooper. He's supposed to be irresistible-he's not-and he's supposed to be able to act his way through the movie-he can't. His monotone delivery would have been laughable if it wasn't painful. Charles Laughton is very good, and he receives an introducing credit for this, his first American film. But, since he is very clearly written to be the bad guy, and I was very clearly on his side rather than his wife's, I didn't end up liking this movie.

I feel so sorry for Charles Laughton. In almost every single movie he made, it was written into the script that he was overweight and unattractive. I've seen male characters call him "tubby", female costars call him "ugly", and he's on countless occasions had to call himself both. In Devil and the Deep, he laments to Gary Cooper, "It must be a happy thing to look like you do. I suppose women love you. I've never had that; it must be a happy thing." During this very sad speech in which he confesses he's "sick and tired of living," he completely won me over. How are the adulterers the couple you're supposed to root for? It's Charles, the sad, tortured, loving, pitiful husband who steals my heart.

Keep on watching--it gets better and better as the film progresses

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 1 March 2009]

Wow does this film have some odd casting. While practically everyone aboard the submarine speaks American style English, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant are cast in two of the leading roles despite their accents. This sort of casting happened relatively frequently in older Hollywood films, but it is confusing to the viewer.

The film begins with Charles Laughton married to Tallulah Bankhead. It seems their friends have been talking about Tallulah's behaviors. Common knowledge is that she is cheating on poor old Charlie, though it turns out this is not true. Laughten is exceptionally paranoid and delights in playing like the slighted husband by starting these rumors himself! Later, he accuses one of his officers (Cary Grant) of committing adultery with Tallulah and delights in destroying Grant's career--even though the man did nothing inappropriate.

In response to Laughton's cruelty, Tallulah runs off and is rescued by dashing young Gary Cooper as she runs amok in an Arabian town. He falls for her but she rebuffs his advances because she's a decent woman. However, she does kiss him and soon makes her escape back home. Soon afterward, Cooper reports to her home--it seems he's the officer who's replacing Grant. However, seeing that his nice commanding officer is married to a woman that let him kiss her, he assumed (incorrectly) that Talullah is a cheat--not understanding that Laughton is certifiably insane.

Talullah comes on board the submarine that will be sailing later that night in order to try to explain herself to Cooper. However, when Laughton sees she's on board, he orders the boat to sail immediately, as he sees an insane chance to punish the two "lovers"--leading to a very exciting final portion of the film. In fact, from then on, the film is at its best. The final moments aboard the ship were exceptionally well done and Laughton's final scene quite memorable. Since this film was made "Pre-Production Code", the scene is particularly graphic and exciting.

Overall, although the film starts a bit slowly, it's a dandy film that combines a naval film with a psychological drama. I must admit that the final five minutes or so of the film seemed a tad awkward, but what proceeded was exciting and it's a heck of a good film.

If you've never seen it, do and but it is best avoid any spoilers to better enjoy this wild ride.

[Larry41OnEbay-2 · 7/10 · 17 April 2021]

SPOILER ALERT: After you've seen it, read on and see if my summary doesn't fit the bill. Our story opens with a letter being found by Charles Laughton's character. The letter was written to Cary Grant's character by Laughton's wife, played by Tallulah Bankhead. Laughton laughs it off and claims he's not one of those jealous husbands... later at their club Laughton tells bad jokes and Bankhead is bored having heard them all more than once. Grant feels sorry for Bankhead but their posh set read the signals as they are having an affair and it is her fault.

Later at home Laughton shows his truer side and jealously taunts and verbally tortures his wife, trying to get a confession. She distraught as his accusations gives in to his wanting a demonstration of their fidelity. He wants Bankhead to invite Grant over for a private conversation while Laughton eavesdrops seeking the truth. She's at her wits end as he gets even more crazy with jealousy. It seems Laughton not only got Grant (his second in command on board a submarine) fired but also implicated that he was incompetent (seeking to ruin his career.) Grant, innocently enough comes to the house later that night to see if he can help Bankhead. Laughton hides and listens in. Bankhead on pins and needles gives away nothing and Grant proceeds to tell her he only wanted to see if he could help her in some way. He confesses he does not love her or anything like that, it's just seems she was in distress and that people talked about her without knowing anything about her. He compares her to a mistreated puppy dog or a puzzle and then he leaves.

Laughton not hearing the evidence of an affair is angry and claims she must have warned Grant before Laughton could hear. Laughton accuses her of thinking he's insane, and that she is driving him to it. Laughton threatens to ruin them both or kill her!

Bankhead goes out into the night, giving up, but knowing she has to get away. In the dark she falls into the crowded street festival and the crowd carries her along finally reaching whirling dervishes of all things symbolic. Cornered and exhausted a strangers hand pulls her into a shop, it is Gary Cooper wanting now to save her from the crush of the crowd. Cooper wants to know more about her, anything to help her. She does not divulge any secrets but end up walking out into the desert at night. Star gazing they fall for each other amid the calm.

EVEN MORE SPOILERS: Laughton hires the store keeper where they met to later be a witness to try and frame her even more. And it turns out Laughton's new second in command is to be Cooper who of all things is replacing Grant! Bankhead knowing Laughton is nutz goes on board the submarine to warn Cooper. Laughton finds out she is on board demands the set sail ASAP trapping her on board. Once at sea and underwater Laughton guides the sub into the pathway of a large cruise ship he alone sees using the periscope and just before it hits turns the periscope 180 degrees and tells Cooper to look thru it. As the seconds tick by he does not turn it around until it's too late and they are rammed and their ship starts to sink.

Laughton calmly orders the men to do this and that while he stealthily sabotages the radio before a distress signal can be sent, but Bankhead sees him do it. Cooper is then told by Laughton in front of the men the crash was Coopers fault and he is to stand down. Bankhead has heard too much and speaks up, shocking all the men who did not know she was on board. Laughton tries again to get the men to open doors that would lead not only to more flooding but would kill all those on board. Bankhead speaks up explain to the men, her husband is crazy, maybe she cares for Cooper while married to Laughton, it is Laughton who she saw scuttle the radio and how he did it. The men realize Laughton in his jealous state is trying to kill them all! Cooper takes charge and carefully organizes the men to slowly leave the sub using portable air tanks. In the first group he send Bankhead to the surface, and after almost all have been evacuated he tries to get Laughton to safety, but Laughton dashes behind a door, locks himself in and starts letting more water in... Later at a trial Cooper is found innocent of the accident but is kicked out of the Navy for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Cooper goes to find Bankhead and does not mind leaving the service, he plans to make Bankhead happy for the rest of her life. The End.

This One Sinks Lower Than The Lost Submarine

[boblipton · 1/10 · 18 February 2021]

Submarine commander Charles Laughton is married to Tallulah Bankhead. Although congenial in public, he is insanely jealous of her. He has broken his lieutenant, Cary Grant, and she has wandered through town, where she encounters Gary Cooper and had a brief tryst with him. She returns home to discover Cooper is her husband's new lieutenant. He immediately comes to the conclusion they are long term lovers, and determines to break him likewise. He orders the submarine to set out early with his wife on board.

I suppose it's a way of getting a woman present during one of those sunken submarine movies, but it's quite poorly handled. Cooper is supposed to speak some romantic lines and muffs them entirely. Laughton, who gets an 'introducing' credit, plays one of those crazy villains he would for the next few years. Despite some interesting talent in front of the camera, it's a complete mess.

big stars and toy boats

[mukava991 · 14 October 2013]

Devil and the Deep contains a fascinating performance from Charles Laughton as a submarine commander going nuts with the conviction that his sultry wife (Tallulah Bankhead) is cheating on him first with Cary Grant and then Gary Cooper.

The physical production features a claustrophobic studio recreation of a North African town (reminiscent of Von Sternberg's "Morocco" but without the dazzling shadow play), a romantic scene in a starlit desert oasis (said to have been filmed in an actual desert but looking exactly like a painted backdrop) and finally the laughable spectacle of toy boats bobbing around in a tank of water that we're supposed to believe is the Mediterranean.

Bankhead, like other female stars of that historical moment, is made up and coiffed to look like a Garbo clone. The style suits her without overwhelming her innate, distinctive qualities of voice and manner. Laughton's performance prefigures his later Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I prefer his work here to his Bligh, which was sometimes too messily overwrought. This is also the second 1932 film (the other being "Payment Deferred") in which he plays dementia with mad laughter. Cooper is wooden and awkward (and handsome) as usual and Grant does well in a smallish supporting role.

An apropos title that fits the setting and a villain in disguise

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 20 February 2022]

"Devil and the Deep" is a dark drama set somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. It's based on a novel, "Sirenes et Tritons" (mermaids and tritons) by Maurice Larrouy (1882-1939). He was an officer in the French Navy who resigned early to devote his time to writing. Much of his writing was maritime stories. This film is no doubt an English revision that is set in the British Royal Navy.

From my decades as a movie buff, I can't think of any movie made about submarines before this one. And for an early sound film when Hollywood studios were expanding for major productions, the set for this one is amazing. The submarine portrayal is very good, especially the last scenes with the disaster.

The cast for this film is quite impressive, with two of the biggest leading male stars in the history of Hollywood - Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. Cooper was already well-established as a star from the late silent movie years. Grant was just three years younger than Cooper but was just starting in the cinema in 1932, and this was his fifth film that year. His next one, "Blonde Venus" that same year would cement his stardom as he co-stars with Herbert Marshall opposite Marlene Dietrich.

But now, this film also introduces Charles Laughton to American audiences. His career also started with the end of the silent films and start of sound pictures. He had just three shorts and one uncredited appearance in British films since 1928, but played the lead roles in each of a single picture he made in 1930 and 1931 - still East of the pond, in England. Laughton would go on to have one of the most distinguished film careers among U. K. actors. I don't think anyone could play the quiet, conniving and often times mad man better than Laughton. It's easy to imagine the title for this film, with the Devil inside Laughton's character.

But with all of that said, the female lead in this story is played very well by Tallulah Bankhead. And, it is she who is at the heart of the film, with Laughton's Commander Charles Sturm as her obsessively jealous husband. The story and screenplay are good enough to keep one wondering what Commander Sturm will eventually do. It's evident that he will do something, probably dastardly. It shows in his behavior that reeks of suspicion, distrust and dislike of his wife, and envy and hatred of the young men whom are officers that serve under hm.

But when it finally happens toward the end, it is somewhat shocking. It shows just how deeply insane Sturm was, all the while maintaining a calm and collected persona for all around him but his wife.

The story has a good plot and okay final ending, but it leaves one wondering, especially for more of the details about Sturm and his wife, how they met, etc. While the sets and filming were very good, The film quality suffers a little, and the plot and screenplay have some holes. But overall, this is a good film to see the early careers of three men who would be major stars of the cinema over the next three decades plus.

Here are some favorite lines from this film

Diane Sturm, "Men can be very spiteful when they're hurt, can't they? Lt. Sempter, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be spiteful. But I am hurt."

Diane Sturm, after hurrying into a shop to hide from Lt. Sempter, "I want one of these things." Shopkeeper, "A billiard cue, very good. Do you like a light one or a heavy one?" Diane Sturm, "Oh, medium."

Lt. Sempter, "What are you doing?" Diane Sturm, "I'm buying and billiard cue." Sempter, "What for?" Diane, "I want a billiard cue."

Odd Devil with Interesting Cast

[daoldiges · 6/10 · 23 March 2024]

With a cast like this - Cooper, Bankhead, Laughton, Grant - I just had to check out Devil and the Deep. This is the earliest Grant film I've seen and he has already established his trademark speech patterns and carriage that would be with him for his entire career. Needless to say his does a fine job. Cooper looks great but his performance is a bit flat, mostly due to the script and direction. Laughton is very good and his character brings a lit to the film. Bankhead does a fine job but her character is so weak willed and passive that it's hard not to get a bit frustrated with her character let alone root for her. It is an odd little film for sure but one that I think is still worth checking out mostly for the cast.

Pre-Code Misfire

[mackjay2 · 5/10 · 3 April 2024]

An odd film for sure. What begins as a domestic melodrama, set in the upper class reaches of naval society, turns into an unexpected, frantic race for survival. Based on a handful of films I've seen, Tallulah Bankhead's acting isn't something to be too excited about. Given the ludicrous plot development in the film's first half, she comes through with an acceptable performance, nothing more. We don't see enough of Cary Grant to full evaluate his contribution; he just looks good for the part. Regarding Gary Cooper, this is one of the worst early acting appearances by a future major star. He simply recites most of his lines and the chemistry between him and Bankhead is, in a word, nonexistent. Many feel that this early film role for Charles Laughton makes the film worth seeing. The great actor certainly is into his part, enjoying his nasty manipulations all the way. But I'd not call this one of Laughton's great moments on screen.

Charles Laughton's Hollywood Debut with Star-Studded Cast

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 26 November 2022]

Cary Grant's charm and looks he displayed in his first movie, 1932's "This Is The Night," earned him a role in his next feature film, his second, as a potential love-interest to the wife of a naval ship commander in August 1932's "Devil and the Deep." Grant plays Lt. Jaeckel under the command of Charles Strum (Charles Laughton), a deeply flawed and extremely jealous husband to Diana Sturm (Talluhlah Bankhead). Based on Maurice Larrouy's novel, 'Sirenes et Tritons," Jaeckel sparks Strum's insane jealousy, which is unfounded by his wife's disinterest in the lieutenant. Jaeckel is quickly shipped out early in the film and is replaced by another lieutenant, Sempter (Gary Cooper), who it turns out gets kissy-wissy with Diana. Actress Bankhead said she accepted the role because she really wanted to get physically close to Cooper.

"Devil and the Deep" was Hollywood's first detailed look at the insides of a submarine. Once the U-Boat's commander Strum has his wife and her officer boyfriend Sempter underway in the underwater sub, he sets forth his plans to kill the lovers, taking along his crew for a suicidal maneuver. Laughton is clearly the star in the movie: the actor's menacing behavior fits the deranged Strum perfectly to a tee. The English-born and raised Laughton began acting on the stage in 1926 while dabbling in film during the late 1920s before securing his first major role in "Devil and the Deep." Tallulah Bankhead, primarily a stage actress, found acting in movies to be a complete bore. Her first two years in Hollywood, 1931 and 1932, were marked with her yearning to return to the live stage. "Devil and the Deep" was her second-to-last picture before reemerging on the screen twelve years later in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 "Lifeboat."

"Devil and the Deep" marked the return to Hollywood for Gary Cooper. Burnt out and drained from an aggressive schedule of acting in ten movies within a two-year span, Cooper suffered from anemia and jaundice from his poor dietary habits. He decided to make a break from Los Angeles, feeling depressed and lonely. Reconnecting with an acquaintance, American heiress Dorothy Taylor, now a countess living in Rome, Italy, Cooper rehabilitated himself with her good food and great advice on nutrition. Developing a continental appreciation for the arts and customs of Europe, the actor's rough Western edges were smoothed out by the countess' patient tutorship. She took him on a ten-week big game safari hunting trip in Kenya, where he bagged a variety of trophy animals. His love of the wilderness kick in during the trip. In his role as the submarine's second-in-command, Cooper appears more comfortable and restrained in his role as the leader of the mutiny when it becomes obvious its commander is attempting to kill everyone on board.

"Devil and The Deep" is the only movie, besides a brief appearance in 1933's "Alice in Wonderland," Cooper and Grant ever shared credits in the same movie. This was a bit ironic since Grant had Cooper in mind when he selected his stage name Cary after the actor from Montana.

Best Scenes Were Inside the Submarine

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 21 June 2023]

Right now any movie or mention of a submarine is liable to bring up very visceral feelings considering we have a submersible missing. A submersible that gives tours of the Titanic has been missing for a few days with limited air and limited space. "Devil and the Deep" has some very intense scenes inside a submarine.

"Devil and the Deep" was a so-so suspenseful romance(?). I question the romance aspect of it, but it could be loosely considered a romance.

The movie was set in Morocco. A rotund, unattractive, and obnoxious commander (Charles Laughton) of a submarine had persistent suspicions about his wife. Looking at him and looking at her I can see why. His wife, Diana (Tallulah Bankhead), was out of his league which is probably why he always questioned her fidelity.

First he accused her of seeing Lt. Jaeckel (Cary Grant) and she didn't help matters any. When he threatened to have Jaeckel transferred she protested. Why would she protest to a man being transferred whom she had no relationship with?

Well, she was able to prove that she and Jaeckel weren't an item, which didn't convince her husband, Cmdr. Charles Sturm. So, in a melancholy and distressed state she went roaming the streets of Morocco where she ran into Lt. Sempter (Gary Cooper). The two of them fast fell in love and kissed, except Diana failed to mention that she was married. When Cmdr. Charles saw his wife's behavior around Sempter he immediately suspected infidelity for which he had a plan.

The best scenes of "Devil and the Deep" were the submarine shots. Much like later submarine movies you got the claustrophobic feel as well as the intense feeling of imminent death when the sub began taking on water. As for the melodrama between Diana, her husband, and Sempter--meh.

Free on YouTube.

Tallulah Bankhead loses Cary Grant but wins Gary Cooper - "We aren't dead yet."

[clanciai · 8/10 · 23 February 2023]

This is some yarn of a U-boat drama being sunken and how to get out of it alive - all except one. Tallulah Bankhead is the star, and she is alone among a lot of men, some of them being Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. Cary Grant has the first turn, and when he is discharged by his U-boat commander Charles Laughton for lack of efficiency, Gary Cooper proves more efficient, immediately embarking on a love affair with Tallulah, which Cary Grant never did. Nevertheless, Gary Cooper is also discharged for lack of efficiency when the U-boat has sunk by sabotage by the commander himself, who suffers from a brain tumour - only his wife Tallulah knew about this before the crisis on board. We never see Cary Grant again, but Gary Cooper does not give up that easily. Not even a billiard cue can stop him.

Hard to Believe This Here Isn't Better Known

[Michael_Elliott · 10 March 2017]

Devil and the Deep (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Diana Sturm (Tallulah Bankhead) is married to submarine Cmdr. Charles Sturm (Charles Laughton) and everyone sees her as a bad person. The truth of the matter is that Charles is extremely abusive to her and will stop at nothing to destroy any man's life he feels she is attracted to. One night while running away from the abuse, Diana meets Lt. Sempter (Gary Cooper) and the two have a relationship, which soon leads to disaster.

DEVIL AND THE DEEP isn't a very well-known movie and I must admit that I'm quite shocked about that. I had never really heard of the film until recently and it's rather amazing because you've got not only Bankhead, Laughton and Cooper but you've also got a young Cary Grant in a nice early role. Four legendary stars from Hollywood's Golden Age and you mention the title to most film buffs and they won't be familiar with it.

Whatever the reason people don't know the film, it's really too bad because it's actually pretty good. The greatest thing about the film is the ending, which I won't spoil but it takes place on the submarine and there's no question that it's quite tense and rather claustrophobic. Director Marion Gering really does a nice job with this entire sequence and while some of the special effects shots aren't the greatest, the overall impact of the scene is very good. The film does get off to a rather slow start but it quickly picks up.

The performances are certainly the main reason to watch the picture with Bankhead delivering a fine one. She's very good in the role of the abusive wife and I really enjoyed her performance when she had to show the fear she feels for her husband. I thought the actress was very believable as an abused woman. Cooper was also very stoic in his "hero" type of role. I thought the two of them shared some very good chemistry and that helped their relationship. Grant appears early on in the picture and he's very good as well. As for Laughton, he gets a very special screen credit and he certainly deserves it as he is great as the crazed man who will stop at nothing to hurt his wife and any man who likes her. By watching this film it's easy to see why he would eventually be cast in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY.

At just seventy-five minutes the film has a very good pace and there's no question that it's one worth watching.

Watch For The Ending

[januszlvii · 8/10 · 26 December 2020]

Based on the amount of reviews ( only 16), it is amazing how few people have seen The Devil And The Deep. Why? It has Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant. It is yet another Cooper ( Lieutenant Sempter) movie thst I saw years ago and is now available on YouTube ( just like another sea picture ( His Woman) I saw today). The highlight spoilers ahead: Is the submarine scene when it is being sunk by insane Commander Charles Storm ( Laughton who in this film makes his Captain Bligh seem normal). The problem with the movie, was the leading lady Tallulah Bankhead who played Charles's wife. This is only the second film of hers I have seen and like Kay Francis and Ann Harding absolutely does nothing for me. She is also not particularly pretty ( unlike Harding). I am sure that I would have preferred the movie if Paramount would have cast Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard or Clara Bow ( all of whom were at the studio at the time and all worked with Cooper). The best acting belongs to Laughton who is usually too over the top for my tastes, but is more restrained here, basically playing a sociopath, so his behavior is hidden most of the film ( except in scenes where he was alone or with Diana) (until the end of course)). Laughton's very distinctive crazy laugh is there in his final scene where is alone on the sinking submarine, when he tries to take a picture of Diana and cut it up with a hatchet ( he fails as he drowns. As for Gary Cooper, he plays Gary Cooper ( almost always the hero), and does end up with Diana ( but with no future in the Navy due to being found guilty in a Court Martial of "Conduct Unbecoming Of An Officer" ( the same fate as Lieutenant Jaeckel (Grant early in his career)). I give the movie 8 of 10 stars. Mostly for Laughton and the ending.